Deformation in a Transverse Cross Section

In this section, the deformation that occurs when a straight prismatic beam, made of homogenous material, is subjected to bending. The discussion will be limited to beams having cross sectional area that is symmetrical with respect to its axis and the bending moment is applied about z axis perpendicular to its axis as shown in the figure 1. Deformation in pure bending is a statistically-indeterminate problem. However, the steps will be considered in a different order since at this stage there is insufficient information about the stress distribution to enable an equilibrium equation to be formulated. The approach initially will be considered a prismatic beam of symmetrical cross-section subjected to pure bending, from which the geometry of the deformation can be studied and strain distribution determined. The stress-strain relations will give the stress distribution which can be related to the forces and moments through an equilibrium condition.

Figure 1